Microsoft Corp’s board authorized the buyback of an additional US$40 billion of stock, on top of an existing US$40 billion repurchase program it will finish by year’s end, keeping up a strategy of returning money to shareholders as its cash pile grows. “This reflects a continuation of the company’s pledge of returning value to shareholders via dividends and buybacks," said Sid Parakh, a fund manager at Becker Capital Management, which owns Microsoft stock. Microsoft is spending about US$26 billion to acquire LinkedIn Corp, a deal that will be largely funded by debt sales. On a percentage basis, Microsoft’s dividend increase this year was smaller than the 16% increase the previous year. The new buyback program succeeds one of the same size that was implemented in 2013, which itself replaced yet another US$40 billion buyback.

Source: The Edge Markets September 21, 2016 04:52 UTC